Attractions
IWalked New York City’s Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
This former Custom House dates its earliest origins back to the early 1890s. The then home of the Custom House over on Wall Street was becoming a bit cramped and so in 1899 the city held a competition for the design of a grand new home. Chosen amongst the competition of twenty firms was the submission by Cass Gilbert who is best known for his 792-foot Woolworth Building (the largest building in the world for a period of time in 1913).
The seven-story Beaux Arts structure features three-story Corinthian pillars along the front façade and an ornate frieze atop the fifth story. For a Custom House it was tradition at the time for a building to face the port of entry for which it was primarily responsible. Gilbert, in this case however, decided that the more historically significant Bowling Green should serve as the focal point. Perfectly blended into the elements of the building are a series of four sculptures designed by Daniel Chester French (best known for having designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.).
The Customs House remained the primary tenant at this residence until 1973 when it moved to the World Trade Center. Subsequent to 9/11 the offices were dispersed throughout New York. After the US Customs offices moved out, this building was abandoned for much of the 1970s before being renovated in the 1980s and narrowly escaping demolition.
In 1994 the current resident of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian opened its doors at this facility. As a museum operating under the Smithsonian umbrella, this museum is open every day of the year less Christmas and admission is always free. Hours of operation are 10am-5pm, with late hours on Thursday evenings until 8pm. The museum contains exhibits on levels one to three of the building and you can actually join one of the free tours throughout the day. Inside the museum they explore the cultures of the existing 561 American Indian tribes from past to present. Make sure not to miss the magnificent paintings inside the Rotunda. More info on the history of these paintings is available here.
While situated outside the grand stair of the US Custom House, movie-lovers may recognize this building from two famous movies. In the Ghostbusters sequel from 1989, this structure was used to serve as the Manhattan Museum of Art after the Met disallowed them to use the actual facilities. And in the 1995 Batman Forever, Jim Carey as the Riddler, hosted a prestigious party attended by then Batman, Val Kilmer.
For more information on the four Daniel Chester French Continent sculptures you may read below. The sculpture are listed as they appear, left to right, if facing the front facade:
Website: http://www.oldnycustomhouse.gov/
Address: 1 Bowling Green, New York City, NY
Cost: Free.
Hours: Mon-Wed and Fri-Sun 10am-5pm; Thur 10am-8pm
IWalked Audio Tours To See This Site: New York City’s Lower Manhattan. (Purchase/download the MP3 tour here. iPhone application tour is available here. Please note, all NYC tours are now available as in-app purchases upon download of our FREE NYC Lite application, which includes a free 1.5 hour tour of a portion of the Upper West Side.)